Common Meteorology Misconceptions

                       (However--any Newtown High School student can give you the scientifically accepted explanation)

                   MISCONCEPTION
                                                                        SCIENTIFICALLY ACCEPTED
                                                                                  EXPLANATION
 The seasons are caused by the earth's distance to the sun.
                                                              The seasons are actually caused by the earth's 23 and 1/2 degree tilt on it's
                                                              axis. This tilt causes the Northern Hemisphere of the earth to receive more
                                                              direct sunlight during the months of June and July, thus giving us warmer
                                                              weather during this time. The cold weather of winter occurs because we
                                                              receive less direct sunlight during the months of December and January.
 Tornadoes and hurricanes have caused the most weather related fatalities.
                                                              Over the past 6 decades in the USA, lightning has caused more fatalities than
                                                              any other weather event. In recent years, flooding has been the biggest
                                                              weather related killer.
 The Coriolis Effect (which causes the global winds to deflect to the right in
 the northern hemisphere and the left in the southeren hemisphere) causes
 toilets in Australia to swirl in the opposite direction of toilets in the United
 States.
                                                              The Coriolis Effect occurs because different latitudes on earth (for example,
                                                              the equator and the poles) rotate at different speeds. This difference in
                                                              rotational speed causes objects moving over large distances to experience a
                                                              deflection to the right or left, depending upon their hemisphere. Water that
                                                              moves only the width of a toilet will not experience a significant difference in
                                                              the earth's rotational speed, thus Coriolis Effect isn't the cause of the water's
                                                              direction of movement. (it's actually just the design of the toilet)


 